Day 11 Wemyss Malts Kumquat Cluster Glenrothes 1993 | Blog #100

100th blog today and I am so pleased to bring up the milestone while blogging through the second edition. For my wife Cindy and I, creating the Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar is a labor of love. We have so much fun putting it all together and getting up and over all the endless array of challenges that come our way.

The real rewards though come from some of the stories we hear about how our creation brings people together. There is something very special about sitting down with friends and family and sharing in a new experience everyday.

Thank you all so much for supporting us and for following along with my whisky ramblings over the past year and a half.

Today we taste our first whisky of this edition that is over the 20 year old mark. As most of you are aware the price of whisky has sky rocketed in the past few years. This is also not helped with a big swing downward by the Canadian dollar against the Great British Pound. Anything over 20 years old now has become super premium and priced out of reach for a lot of people at least for a semi regular whisky purchase. For the 2nd edition however this is only the first of many to come sliding over the 20 year old barrier.

Glenrothes Distillery

Glenrothes is a Speyside distillery that has seen its fair share of drama with 4 major fires causing huge whisky losses over the years. In 1993 Berry Brothers & Rudd purchased the rights to the Single Malt and started bottling as Vintage expressions rather than age statements. The Distillery was founded in 1878 and is now a very popular brand amongst whisky consumers.

Wemyss Malts Kumquat Cluster Glenrothes 1993 – 21 Years Old bottled at 46% ABV and aged in what I would think was a second or third fill Sherry Butt. Cask Number 3343. Region Speyside.

Wemyss Malts – Kumquat Cluster

Colour: Very Light for 21 years old especially in a sherry butt which leads me to believe that it was second or third fill. Polished 18k gold.

Nose: Wow certainly some big citrus hits there I can see why the Wemyss crew found consensus in this name. Tropical citrus i.e. Kumquat is very apt. Oak influence is soft on this whisky. Poached Kumquats in sweet Riesling and cream reduction.

Finish: Elegant would be a good word to describe this whisky. Must be easy for Wemyss to find flavour descriptors for whiskies when it is this prevalent. The finish is long and the little Asian citrus just rolls right along even intensifying a little as you sit and think about it.

It is very rare to taste a Glenrothes from an indie bottler let alone one that is as unique as this one. The 2nd or 3rd fill Sherry cask was perfect for this whisky so as to allow these tropical fruit notes to remain so dominant.

A great whisky for my 100th blog and one that I will definitely hunt down a full bottle of for the back bar.

Joshua Hatton is running alongside us everyday with his take on this Advent journey. His notes for the Glenrothes 21 can be found HERE

3 comments

While only in year two for us the Calendar has been a huge amount of fun and introduced me the depth of whisky that I doubt I would have come to appreciate if left to my own devices. To be fair your blog year round and links to other whisky lovers has help too but the calendar is what I return to. The tradition for us involves my dad and I ( and now many others through twitter) comparing notes – however rudimentary – while my brother a true and experienced wine guy looks on with a sense of disbelief.

My family makes an annual family visit to Japan which I now know hosts a great number of options for my whisky enjoyment. But having followed your blog I realize that a stop over in Scotland must happen – it is only fair that both cultural "trees" are represented after all…..

Absolutely, Scotland is awesome and it is an honor for me to be able to visit twice a year as we bring the calendar together. We are actually moving calendars into Asia and Taiwan and Singapore are the first stops. We know whisky is huge in Japan and I’m sure they would love a 25 day whisky experience so we will be looking into it. If you have any contacts there in the whisky world let me know.